


tastebuds.

by ateezie



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Cooking, Developing Relationship, Love at First Sight, M/M, Other, Romantic Soulmates, highschool, mark is a bad cook, mild dowoo, nct - Freeform, quite old but i tried to renew it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-19
Updated: 2020-06-25
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:41:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24805606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ateezie/pseuds/ateezie
Summary: in which whatever your soulmate is eating, you're suddenly craving it as well.// mark can't cook for shit and his mother is sick of cooking his soulmate's weird food combinations, so she applies him to the school's cooking club- where he is pretty fast to notice someone with the same tastebuds as him.
Relationships: Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Mark Lee, Lee Jeno/Na Jaemin
Comments: 11
Kudos: 39





	1. preview.

**Author's Note:**

> found this old thing somewhere in my notes, i tried to adjust some things here and there. anyway, enjoy! (if that's even possible)

mark hadn't met his soulmate yet, but he at least knew what kind of food they like to eat. as if that didn't already weird him out enough, because mark's sure that no normal human being enjoyed eating pickles with peanut butter, or rice cakes spread onto tortilla sheets with vanilla sauce- his mother's finally getting sick of cooking the weird food combinations for the sake of her son and his future someone, so she applied him to the school's cooking club. But no one had a clue that the cooking club's co-captain would have the same tastebuds as mark. 

posting soon (:


	2. bittersweet hunger.

„and that was it for today, class!“

mark groaned in dismay as he was awakened once again by the sound of the school bell going off, the afternoon sun burning his skin with a sting. said boy immediately jumped up from his seat and was about to head out of the school, when all of a sudden words were darned in his mind.

 _„don’t you dare ditch the cooking club“_. mark shuddered at the image of his mother possibly scolding him if he didn't attend the club.

yes you’ve heard right, mark was expected to become a member of the school‘s cooking club starting today.

The tired student walked to his locker to store his useless stuff in there, maybe taking a second to meet and talk to jeno or something before finally having to look out for the club activities.

„hey mark, you okay there?“ jeno approached his best friend with a frown and a furrowed eyebrow. mark slammed his hands in his face enthusiastically, sighing multiple times in a row. „oh! i forgot, sorry, today‘s your first day of the cooking club?“ jeno laughed pointing at him with his index finger, trying to hide the empathy he felt for the older.

mark glared at him instinctively and jeno quit the laughter abruptly. the boys made their way to the lower story of the school building, jeno did not really have a place to be at but he wanted to walk his best friend to the first meeting of surest complexity (to make sure mark's not losing his mind by himself).

„you know, it’s not that bad! jaemin is also part of the club and very happy with his team chef position-" the younger nudged him but mark shook it off with another hot glare.

„a-at least you know someone there!“

„well i hope your boyfriend treats me well. do you think he‘ll mind writing a note for my mother that says i‘m incapable of joining the club?“

they stop at the right entry for a moment, trying to squeeze out the last seconds of freedom. mark held his finger up to signal the other boy to keep shut at this statement, and not come up with mark‘s alter ego superior phrase saying he’s absolutely capable. jeno pursed his lips, his attempts to refuse a chuckle failing terribly.

„and all that effort you’re doing here is because your soulmate is one weird person with allegedly very weird taste buds.“ jeno didn’t bother replying to the actual question by mark, instead he put out a quick fact to cheer his friend up a little. mark sent him a dangerous look. one that said he shouldn’t be messing with his soulmate.

„leave alone my soulmate, young man.“ mark poked jeno in the arm and then entered the room by inhaling deeply. mark prayed for this to be good.

It wasn’t that mark had some anxiety issues, trouble meeting people or joining clubs- but for which qualities exactly for? one thing that’s sure; mark can’t cook for shit and he doubted ever being able to.

last time he tried to scramble his eggs- no he didn't even want to remember it anymore. mark was horrible with his (nonexistent) cooking skills but his mother forced him and applied him to this club for his own good. her son happened to be someone paired to a soulmate that had a very abnormal, sometimes even outrageously weird and complex taste in food.

He remembered the number one favorite food of his special person: pickles with peanut butter or rice cake spread onto tortilla sheets dripped with vanilla sauce. well, mark can’t cook, whatever his future someone was craving that was in order to be cooked- he had never been in the place to do it himself! all because of lacking kitchen skills.

So maybe this was a good idea.

being able to make whatever your soulmate is eating and you automatically craving, it’s a special thing, a bonding at the same time. perhaps this wasn’t even a bad idea of his mother. perhaps!

-

mark entered the room quietly, literally tiptoeing which concluded into earning some glances of other students. the eighteen-year-old looked around the big room, his only goal being to spot the soulmate of his best friend, jaemin.

„mark-ssi?“

the desired boy shuddered hearing that voice behind him and in no time he tumbled and fell on the floor. well, he would’ve fallen on the floor, if it wasn’t for jaemin to catch him at the right time.

„oh wow, didn’t know you were such a scaredy cat! why were you hiding anyways? and why are you even here?“ jaemin questioned as he stabilized their positions shortly.

mark rubbed his nape awkwardly, feeling uncomfortable in this situation. „my mother forced me to come here because i can’t cook food..“ the older mumbled. jaemin squinted his eyes „and?“ that caused mark to groan loudly. „for my soulmate.“ jaemin smiled at him while clapping his hands like a seal in joy.

„aah i knew it! well, then it’s time for you to finally learn, isn't it?“ the younger walked to the huge dining table set in the middle of the kitchen, placing the wooden spatula down on the table harshly and causing a sound that made everyone turn their heads. mark shrieked back, too.

„so everyone, i‘d like you to come here and take a seat if you want to join the club properly!“ by now, all the students- most of them being women, that somehow isn’t surprising at all, were taking a seat in fast manner. jaemin smiled softly at all of them, he turned his head to the side and hissingly called his co-captain and other members by when he noticed that they weren’t standing beside him yet. mark giggled at the action and sat down quickly.

„first of all, i’m happy to see that so many- 2,3.. 7 new people are ready to join us this year! let’s all get to know each other, shall we?“

jaemin ended his little speech looking happy as ever. every one else seemed comfortable as well, even mark complied. his eyes scanned around the table, attempting to get to know all the faces of his new cronies. after all, he had to spend most of his time with them from that moment on, the cooking club took place 3 times a week! while that’s not crazy enough, jaemin decided to pick mark to start the introduction round of a sudden as the older seemed pretty focused on something.

„you start!“

jaemin winked at mark making him struggle to hold his glare back. he set his gaze on the others around the table, his nervousness only pumping more adrenaline through his veins as seconds passed in silence. mark cleared his throat briefly.

„i‘m mark.“ was all that escaped his lips, leaving the other students a little baffled at the bluntness of the good looking senior.

the cooking club crew shared giggles at mark, jaemin relied on easiness but this was definitely another level of simplicity.

„tell us why you’re here, mark.“ jaemin dropped the honorifics and mark scoffed at both.

his cheeks turned red at the reason of his presence. he blinked away from jaemin‘s eyes, not expecting to be met with another pair of eyes staring right at him. mark furrowed his eyebrow in deep perplexity.

the guy standing next to jaemin with an arm thrown around him looked ethereally pretty.

his tan skin complemented his purplish hair perfectly, mark thought. the boy squeezed his eyes with another grin, sending mark thumbs up to start his speech. mark snapped out of the trance, bothered by the saliva on the edge of his mouth. he thanked god he didn’t drool in front of all of them right on the spot. jaemin only narrowed his eyebrows.

„my m- no, i! i joined because i can’t cook well..“ mark said and gulped. jaemin's laugh sounded almost hysterical.

„well? you can’t cook at all, come on, tell them the whole story!“ the caramel-haired pleaded. mark closed his eyes with quivering hands.

„i can‘t cook and i want to learn how to cook because...“ he felt all eyes on him. „because i want to cook for my soulmate!“.

while mark’s mind was occupied with his inhaling and exhaling process, the others politely clapped for him and continued. he completely ignored the cheeky remarks on jaemin‘s side and all the muddled expressions when mentioning his unknown soulmate.

-

the get-to-know session was soon over and everybody got on step-for-step recipes for a sweet dish of their choice. mark was stunned, it seemed like he was the only one with zero knowledge of cuisine skills and in all honesty he felt pretty lost. well, maybe if had paid attention to the beginner advice and generally the whole talking after he had to introduce himself embarrassingly- maybe then he wouldn’t just stand there in the corner waiting for jaemin to come to him. him and jaemin weren’t even all that close but since he was the only one he knew here, it seemed pretty welcoming to spend all his time with the younger.

Mark looked around the small area with a visible pout on his lips.

„you okay there?“

a honey sweet voice filled mark‘s ears unexpectedly, mark bit his tongue out of reflex- but a tad too hard for his own good. he hissed in pain as he opened his eyes to look at the person that approached him. mark gulped as he blinked again.

it was the pretty boy from the crew earlier, the one that stood next to jaemin. his gaze softened immediately.

„oh god! what happened?“ the tan boy asked worried as he noticed the pained expression on mark.

mark nodded, the heat rushing up to his cheeks like it was nothing. „y-yeah, just bit my tongue.“ the older mumbled.

„did i startle you?“ mark awkwardly nodded again. the other boy chuckled.

„well, sorry not sorry- anyways, why are you not doing anything?“ mark shrugged looking flustered. the sudden change in behavior totally confused mark.

„i‘m donghyuck, i think i‘m actually a year younger than you!“ donghyuck introduced himself to prevent any further weird confusion. mark smiled sheepishly at him, moving his head frantically.

„you know my name, i guess?“ the older smirked as he watched the younger leaning on the counter across him.

„yes i do. why are you doing nothing again?“

donghyuck sat on the counter nonchalant. the purple haired suddenly felt so hungry seeing mark and weirdly enough, the feeling was mutual. they say when-

„i don’t.. didn't you listen to my little introduction earlier? i cant really cook, like really.“

„then why don’t you learn it?“ oh wow, that came out so easily from his master chef cook mouth.

„that’s easy to say for you.“ mark commented, rolling his sleeves high to look cool (which if you'd ask donghyuck, looked cute). donghyuck shrugged.

„yeah it may be, but how can you say you can’t cook when you’re not even trying it right now? come on, what’s your favorite sweet dish? we‘ll cook together.“

donghyuck reached out for mark‘s wrist in no time and swooned him around to his side of the counter. mark was shocked by the swift skinship performed and he swallowed down the delicate taste building on his tongue. why is he suddenly tasting sweet candy?

„songpyeon.“ mark said monotone.

donghyuck tilted his head in question. he looked hindered. „well, it’s not exactly chuseok right now.. it’s a bit unfitting, isn’t it?“ donghyuck rubbed his nape as he ignored his speedy heartbeat.

„you wanted to know what my favorite dessert was, i answered it.“ the older clicked his tongue making the purple haired look at him in slight outrage- but he liked the attitude of mark. a lot.

„well mister i-know-better..“ mark furrowed an eyebrow at him. „what else do you like?“ donghyuck put his fingers on his lower lip and mark swore he was about to say ‚you‘ when he hadn’t been able to recollect his control over his mind just in time. this was a bit weird, right?

„dasik tastes good too.“ mark refused the urge to look at the other for longer than he already did. donghyuck nodded, complying to the newbie's suggestion. Also totally ignoring the fact that dasik is a new year‘s dish (even more unfitting than songpyeon).

„dasik? god, you grandpa! thought you were only a year older than me, not a century.“

donghyuck laughed like there was no tomorrow but in all honesty, mark didn’t mind one bit. he liked the sound of donghyuck‘s soothing laugh gushing into his ears, the way his stomach exploded in foreign yet well-known sparks and his face getting probably hotter than the stove heat. after calming himself, donghyuck exhaled.

„dasik sounds good, it’s easy and quickly made, so, let’s make a bunch.“ mark licked his lips. hunger alerting his brain cells for many minutes now even though he just had lunch earlier. he ignored it though, as good as possible.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tbh i hate seeing my writing style development bc my writing got so much worse throughout the years, i honestly miss my old style but what can i do ¯\\_(ツ)_/ ¯  
> *dasik; traditional korean lny tea cookie.  
> *songpyeon; sweet kind of rice cake, usually eaten on chuseok.


	3. vague tongue.

mark was spreading some tomato sauce on bread sticks when his phone rang. the teenager licked his lips seeing it's a video call incoming, he picked up. 

"What's up, Jen?" mark bit into his bread stick while asking. jeno eyed the older.

"are you eating something, hyung?" mark furrowed his eyebrows. "yes." 

"is that a bread stick with tomato sauce?" 

"yes it is, why are you asking?" mark was just confused at this point.

"is it your soulmate's craving?" 

"yes, why do you ask again?" mark wiped his lips as he watched jeno shifting.

"they eat normal food too?" jeno looked like he was in deep awe. mark snorted as he started giggling. 

"that's why you were so confused? of course they eat normal stuff too! nobody can survive on gummy bear toast."

jeno nodded, still surprised. he is sure he knew someone with a similar, if not identical, taste but he chose to not say anything. 

"how was cooking club?" the younger asked instead. mark rolled his eyes in annoyance. he did not want to recall today's events. mark shifted in his position as he put the phone on the counter against a glass bottle, smearing more tomato sauce on his bread. should he tell jeno about the way he burned the rice flour three times in a row, or that he accidentally poured hot syrup on jaemin's thumb? mark shook his head unconsciously, maybe he could tell him about donghyuck? but that would be weird. what would he tell jeno about donghyuck? that he's cute and that their hands touched a million times on accident while cooking? mark winced when he heard jeno clear his throat loudly. 

"that much happened?" jeno smirked, he already had a clue.

"n-no! it's just.. i don't know what to talk about.." mark mumbled flustered when he recognized a grin on jeno's face. he furrowed his eyebrows in suspicion. 

"what do you know, jeno?" jeno threw his head back while getting lost in laughter. "oh.. nothing, just the way you almost wet the table while staring at lee donghyuck!"

mark went red. "H-how do you know about this? wait, wait, wait, that's not even true!" 

"not true? jaemin told me about it himself, he's donghyuck's best friend- i beg of you." 

mark put a hand on his nape awkwardly. "come on, don't be shy! tell me about it, _lover_ boy." the older felt slight anger building up in his system, so he shot jeno a visible glare that made him shut his mouth. he had to explain himself on the spot. 

"he j-just helped me cook! and i did not drool about him, idiot, jaemin just exaggerates and you know it." 

"this time he really meant it though, mark hyung, why are you even so pressed about this? huh? felt hungry when you spent time with donghyuck?" jeno asked this question with his only intention being to tease the shit out of mark, but mark's shocked expression told him that this hit another vein. as mark kept quiet and refused to respond, jeno leaned forward and let out a muddled sound. "huh? wait, wha-

did you _really_?" 

mark exhaled really long. yes he may have felt hungry while being around lee donghyuck, but it could've been any other reason than what jeno (and the rest of the world) thought it to be. never in a lifetime has he already found his soulmate in just eighteen years of life. that's basically impossible (it really isn't)! maybe he just felt hungry.. because he hadn't eaten yet when he visited the cooking club..? mark shook his head once again. he ate lunch just an hour before joining the club, with jeno.

"maybe i did! but what does that even mean?" jeno groaned in disappointment. mark was such a stubborn person, the worst thing was that he's also dumb. these are two personality traits that don't go too well. the time a normal human being needed to recognize something, mark tripled it. he was simply oblivious.

"hyung! you know what it means- you don't just get hungry around anyone, it has to be your soulmate!"

the older sealed his lips once more.

"donghyuck does not look like someone with weird cravings though." mark looked at the ceiling. 

"oh you have no clue, mark." jeno chuckled.

"when's the next meeting?" jeno was curious. mark noticed he was. probably because jeno never experienced a soulmate-finding other than his own- which was really boring if honest. 

"tomorrow.." mark really tried to sound as confident as possible, but he couldn't get himself to it. this was probably a false alarm- what if he was only wasting his time on this but in the end donghyuck isn't actually his special someone? 

"ask him out." 

mark choked on his waffle mate. now he convinced himself to give it a shot, but this was going too fast. he'd creep donghyuck out. 

"sorry?" 

"i didn't mean it like that! you should ask him about.. his favorite food and-"

"jeno. asking someone about their favorite food is a way of asking them out." mark deadpanned. jeno almost screeched.

"hyung, i know i know!" jeno swore to scream when mark interrupted him again.

"apparently you do not-" "hyung! shut the heck up and let me explain!" radio silence. 

"okay that one advice was stupid of me, but hear me out; observe the things donghyuck eats, or when he eats them- if the sun is really your soulmate then the earlier you know it the better." jeno watched mark not moving, he understood what was going trough the mind of his dear friend right now and he didn't want to pressure anything on him.

"the sun?" jeno suddenly smirked. "it's his nickname." mark nodded.

"look, i give you some time to think about it- but please give it a shot, believe me, it's worth it." mark befuddled the way jeno sounded so sure about this whole thing. it was almost like he already knew what was going to happen. they shortly stared each other in the eyes before bidding goodbye and hanging up. 

time to thin- that's what mark needed, he had to ponder. a lot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i remember being super unmotivated while writing this chapter that's probably why it's so short lol


End file.
